Chattanooga Street Art: Structures
The outdoor art experience in Chattanooga includes structures that tell a story. Two of the largest installations downtown touch on the city’s cultural and economic past, current successes, and what’s to come.
City Thread
The Artists
Based in Syracuse, New York, Molly Hunker and Greg Corso specialize in architecture and design, aiming to create spaces that bring a city’s social scene to life. Answering a challenge to re-envision an alley in a southern city, they partnered with Metal Arts Foundry and NOUS Engineering on this design.
The Process
A continuous line of bright green steel tubes that create seating, tunnels, and micro-stages, City Thread creates a colorful alleyway off 7th Street downtown. The winner of the Passageways 2.0 international design competition, the structure zig-zags through the alley in a way that visually creates a collection of “urban rooms,” or gathering spaces. Some have said the installation is a visualization of the city’s fiber-optic internet. Others see it as a reflection of Chattanooga’s reputation for innovation, for adventure, and for the arts. When lit up at night, City Thread’s contrast against the alley’s red and blue walls is simply magical.
Location: Cooper’s Alley, off 7th Street
What’s Nearby: Unknown Caller, Chattanooga Billiards Club, Tivoli Theater, Easy Bistro & Bar
Ascending Path
The Artists
Sculptor Aaron Hussey specializes in commissioned public art and has permanent installations in Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Brad Bourgoyne owns Bourgoyne Studio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is formally trained in fine art. Bourgoyne also uses computer-aided visualization and modeling to turn artistic concepts into 3-D designs. The pair worked together to add this installation to the riverfront in 2007.
The Process
Inspired by Lookout Mountain, the Trail of Tears, and Civil War-era photography of a wooden bridge being built over the Tennessee River, Ascending Path is made from cast resin, bronze, and corten steel. The artists wrote in their design proposal that the piece represents the city’s transformation into a place of “rebirth.” “It marks a place of transition, and speaks to all who have passed through it, and to all those yet to do so,” they wrote. “This is where the Trail of Tears started. This is where African American slaves found freedom. This is a place where the forces of nature come together, the Tennessee River coursing past and Lookout Mountain rising up.”
Location: Renaissance Park
What’s Nearby: Coolidge Park, Edley’s Bar-B-Que, Belle Rive Boutique, Walnut Street Bridge, Winder Binder Mercantile
Additional Noteworthy Murals Around Chattanooga
Yoda Mural
Brainerd Rd. – The Artist Seven
Highland Park Community Mural
1516 E. Main St. – Nathan Brown and community members
Communal Kaleidoscope
1409 Market St. – Alecia Vera and Briah Gober
Fallen Five
1704 McCallie Ave. – Kevin Bate
The Soul of MLK
E. 10th St. and Foster St.
Dr. Martin Luther King Mural
734 E. MLK Blvd. – Kevin Bate
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